Compartmented crate



Feb. 8, 1966 w. B. WILKINS COMPARTMENTED CRATE Filed June 4, 1963INVENTOR WILLIAM BURDETTE WILKIN5 MWZWAAWWK AT TOR NEYS ll hhhuuw UnitedStates Patent C 3,233,774 COMPARTMENTED CRATE William Burdette Wilkins,Roxhoro, N.C., assignor to Reinforced Plastic Container Corporation,Roxhoro,

Filed June 4, 1963, Ser. No. 285,338 3 Claims. (Cl. 22021) Thisinvention relates to a crate structure and, more particularly, relatesto an improved partitioned crate having a plurality of compartments toreceive the bottled commodity carried therein.

In the mechandising of bottled commodities such as soft drinks, it iscustomary to distribute the bottled material in cases or crates. Theconventional crate for soft drinks comprises a wooden rectangular trayor fiat having a bottom and vertically disposed side and end walls. Theinterior of the tray is subdivided by intersecting wooden partitionsinto a plurality of compartments, usually square, of a size to receive asingle bottle. The partitions are provided to separate adjacent bottlesand to prevent damage during transit. To provide the individualcompartments, however, the wooden partitions must be notched or cut outso that intersection portions can be interleaved in mating fashion.

It has been found that thenotching of the wood inevitably weakens thepartitions leaving sections supported only by a cross grain of the thinwood slat. Under impact, such partitions or sections will break off andfall into the bottom of the compartment. As a result, on loading of thecrate with bottles by automatic equipment, the bottles cannot beinserted to the full depth and are broken off by the automatic loadingequipment, resulting in stoppage of the equipment until it can becleared. Similar problems of breakage exist in automatic debottlingequipment.

Further, the wooden structures entrap moisture as, for example,condensation from chilled bottles, leading to warpage of the crate. Itis also difficult to accurately control the cell size of thecompartments when constructed from wood. Further, to sustain the loadwithin the crates and, simultaneously, to provide the necessary impactresistance, it has been found that wood must be reinforced as by steelbands.

It is, therefore, the primary object of this invention to provide animproved compartmented crate having greater resistance to breakage andchange of dimension in use.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a crate which can beassembled in more economical fashion.

In accordance with these objects, there is provided, in a preferredembodiment of this invention, a crate having a body formed as asubstantially U-shaped channel member. The body is formed of a pluralityof laminations bonded together as, for example, a plurality oflaminations of kraft paper bonded together with a resin such as a urearesin. The partition structure or nest is similarly formed of laminatedpaper reinforced at the edges by a high strength roving such as glassfibers. The partition structure is inserted within the crate body and isafiixed therein by bonding the partition structure to the side Walls ofthe U-shaped channel at the upper ends thereof. The partition is sodimensioned as to provide a free space between the bottom of thepartition structure and the bottom of the body which extends the lengthof the body.

The end walls of the crate are formed by a thin composite body having ahandle integrally formed therewith. This end wall and handle assemblymay most conveniently be formed from a single sheet of thin steel, theupper end of which is formed about a wooden insert to form the handle.This is bonded to the partition structure and to the side Walls of thechannel member. By such bonding,

3,233,774 Patented Feb. s, was

the beam strength requisite for handles for such crates is provided in alightweight, simply assembled structure.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greaterdetail along with other obiects and advantages in the following detailedsections of the specification which may best be understood by referenceto the accompanying figures, of which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled crate in accordance withthe present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the handle assembly for the crate ofFIG. 1 illustrating the formation thereof; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged section on lines 3-3 of FIG. 1.

In the figures, there is shown a crate comprising a body 10 formed as asubstantially U-shaped open ended channel structure. This channelstructure is formed from a plurality of laminations bonded together atthe interfaces by a suitable resin. For example, i have found itpreferable to form the body of a plurality of laminations of kraft paperbonded together bythermosetting urea resins. This body section ispreferably formed by assembling the laminations as disclosed in myco-pending application Serial No. 285,375 filed June 4, 1963, forApparatus for Wrapping and Cutting Wrapped Laminations.

The partition structure or nest 12 is preferably formed of paperlaminations bonded together and comprises a plurality of longitudinallyextending members 14 formed into a series of open ended squares bondedto longitudinally extending dividers 16 to form the nest of joinedadjacent compartments 18. The partition structure may be formed in amold as illustrated in my copending application Serial No. 285,374 filedJune 4, 1963, for Actuated Mold and Ejector.

The partition structure is preferably reinforced at the edges by a highstrength roving stock such as fiber glass roving 20 in order to improvethe resistance of the partition structure to damage during insertion ofthe bottles and the like by automatic equipment and to strengthen thewalls of the compartments. Application of the roving reinforcement maybe accomplished by the apparatus disclosed in my co-pending applicationSerial No. 285,762, filed June 5, 1963 for Apparatus for Application ofReinforcing Strands to a compartmented Nest.

The partition structure is bonded to the side walls of the mold body sothat the top surface of the partition structure is slightly below thetop of the side walls. The partition structure, therefore, will notreach the bottom of the body portion leaving a clean open spaceextending the length of the crate body. By this assembly, cleaning ofthe crate is facilitated since there is provided uninterrupted space forthe run-off of the cleaning fluids used. Further, any accumulatedmoisture as, for example, condensation from chilled bottles can run offfreely.

The ends of the crates are enclosed by a side wall and handle structure22. The structure 22 is preferably formed of thin sheet stock such assheet steel, the upper ends of which are folded around a wooden insert24- to form a reinforced handle convenient to grasp. The underside 31 ofthe handle is angled to follow the taper of the insert 24 to provide aneasily gripped, secure handle. The handle and wall structures areinserted and tabs 26 thereof affixed to the side walls by bonding, thestrength of which may be augmented by rivets 28 extending therethrough.The flat face 30 of the structure 22 is bonded to the end of thepartition structure.

Alternatively, the structure 22 may be formed using sheet stock ofaluminum or sheet plastic, reinforced if necessary. Also, the structuremay be extruded to finished form from a suitable plastic.

In this manner, a simple and economical handle structure may befabricated from materials which are capable of being imprinted withadvertising slogans and the like.

v In addition, the handle and end wall structure provide the requisitestructural strength. For example, it is common practice to stack thecrates when loaded to heights of five or six crates and to pick up theentire stack with a loader which grasps the handles of the bottom crate.The flat face 30 of the handle assembly 22 provides the necessary beamdepth to sustain such loads. Buckling failure of this thin beam sectionis prevented by bonding thereof to the partition wall.

In order to prevent entrapment of moisture under the bottom of eachbottle, strips 32 are provided on the bottom of the body, which stripsare ofi'set from the nest compartments.

In this manner, there is provided a structure which is both strong andresilient. The resiliency of the nest cushions impacts preventing bottlebreakage and breakage of the nest. The materials used enable moreaccurate control of the cell size of the nests as well as more accuratecontrol of the overall size of the crate. The crate can be made smallerby about a /2 inch in length and a /2 inch in width over thecorresponding wooden crate without change of the capacity of the crate.The material is, of course, not subject to warpage as is wood and ismuch easier to clean. Additionally, of course, the assembly is lighterand can be assembled in operations which are more compatible withautomatic assembly equipment.

Furthermore, the crate is compatible with existing wooden cratesenabling intermixing thereof.

The nest may be omitted in those application in which the crate is usedto transport bottled commodities packaged in paper containers. Althoughthe buckling resistance of the Wall 30 is reduced without thereinforcement of the nest, this application does not require the samestrength of handle.

This invention may be variously modified and embodied Within the scopeof the subjoined claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A compartmented crate for bottled soft drinks comprising:

a crate body, said crate body being formed from a plurality oflaminations bonded together to form a U-shaped, open ended body,

a nest, said nest being formed of a plurality of paper laminationsformed into a plurality of adjacent compartments, each of saidcompartmentsv being dimensioned to receive a single bottle, said nestbeing inserted into said body just below the top of said body andsecured therein by bonding of the nest to the side walls of said cratebody, said nest having a depth less than said body to provide anuninterrupted clear space between the bottom of the nest and the bottomof said body for the entire length of said nest, and an end wall andhandle assembly for each end of said crate, each of said end wall andhandle structures comprising a flat piece of sheet stock the top ofwhich is formed into a handle and the sides of which are formed intotabs, each of said assemblies being inserted within one end of said bodyand secured therein by bonding the fiat surface thereof to the neststructure and bonding the tabs to the side walls of said body, the depthof said assemblies being less than the depth of said body thereby tocontinue the open uninterrupted spacing under said nest to the ends ofsaid crate. 2. A crate in accordance with claim 1 which includes awooden insert within the formed handle.

3. A crate inaccordance with claim 1 in which said nest is reinforced byroving extending along and bonded to the top edges of said nest.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 137,791 4/1873Mueller 21723.9

183,778 11/1876 Ryerson 217-23.18 2,778,524 1/1957 Bock 22083952,950,852 8/1960 Hutchison 22923 3,001,900 9/1961 Frieder 220833,138,507 6/1964 Wiltshire 22083 FOREIGN PATENTS 753,594 7/ 1956 GreatBritain.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner.

GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner.

1. A COMPARTMENTED CRATE FOR BOTTLED SOFT DRINKS COMPRISING: A CRATEBODY, SAID CRATE BODY BEING FORMED FROM A PLURALITY OF LAMINATIONSBONDED TOGETHER TO FORM A U-SHAPED, OPEN ENDED BODY, A NEST, SAID NESTBEING FORMED OF A PLURALITY OF PAPER LAMINATIONS FORMED INTO A PLURALITYOF ADJACENT COMPARTMENTS, EACH OF SAID COMPARTMENTS BEING DIMENSIONED TORECEIVE A SINGLE BOTTLE, SAID NEST BEING INSERTED INTO SAID BODY JUSTBELOW THE TOP OF SAID BODY AND SECURED THEREIN BY BONDING OF THE NEST TOTHE SIDE WALLS OF SAID CRATE BODY, SAID NEST HAVING A DEPTH LESS THANSAID BODY TO PROVIDE AN UNINTERRUPTED CLEAR SPACE BETWEEN THE BOTTOM OF